Monday, July 4, 2011

Mushrooms & Napa Cabbage Miso Soup

Mushrooms & Napa Cabbage Miso Soup
I love my veggie tasty, so I made this side dish for a last weekend's meaty lunch. The weather was indeed a bit too warm for a hot soup, but still...miso made things so tasty we would've consumed this in our underwear dripping with sweat if we had to ^_*

Quite a seksi idea? Ahem! No, I didn't think so.

What's seksi though...is this bowl I got from Franc Franc, from a quick shopping trip with Lia of Bentolicious. We both went crazy and I am so glad I did. I love my purchases!
Mushrooms & Napa Cabbage Miso Soup
Recipe
- 1 small napa cabbage, sliced
- 1 cup mushrooms of your choice
- hot water
- miso paste
- a touch of sugar
- crunchy seaweed paper/strands for garnish (optional)
Bring a pot of water to boil, add napa cabbage, cook until they reach the desired level of crunchiness/softness, add mushrooms, add miso paste bit by bit until you reach the desired level of flavor, balance it with a bit of sugar. Garnish if you wish.

In 30something C weather like this, turn on your fan/aircon (or take off clothes?) and start slurping.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Making & Behind the Scene - Hello Kitty Food Blogger Sausage Sculpture for the Cock Up

Hello Kitty Food Blogger - My Blog is Cuter Than Yours - Cocktail Sausage Food Sculpture
All the mess and madness before the cocktail sausage cook up.

I didn't plan to make a sausage sculpture before, I knew cutetifying food isn't my forte.
Hello Kitty Food Blogger - My Blog is Cuter Than Yours - Cocktail Sausage Food Sculpture

What did I plan to make?
Welcome to my Hall of FAILURES.
Cocktail Sausage Cheesecake
Cocktail Sausage Savoury Cheesecake. 
The idea sounded good in my head, I used Maid brand's honey cocktail sausages, they're a bit sweet, so I thought they would work. I thought of making tarts instead of a huge cake, topped with glazed apples, peaches, or grapes, or a mix of fruits...maybe garnished with a piece of thinly sliced, deep fried crispy cocktail sausage.

Wow. Ambitious, wasn't I?

Well, obviously, I failed. Hard.
Cocktail Sausage Cheesecake
I food processed the cocktail sausages into the cheesecake batter. The cheesecake ended up fluffy, more Japan than New York, which was fine, but the tiny bits of sausage made the cake super weird, and not in a good way. I probably should've left them sliced to give the cake bits of bite. You can see that I've failed the cream cracker crust too. I was too impatient waiting for it to set. Oppps.
I'll do better next time...

Apple Cocktail Sausage Savoury Crumble
Apple, Pear & Cocktail Sausage Savoury Crumble
Again, the idea sounded good in my head, but the whole thing tasted so damn weird. I should've probably leave the fruits uncooked or pickled. Crisp the sausages and make the crumble separately and assemble them together in small shot glasses or something. This crumble topping was savoury, maybe I should've made the crumble topping sweet? I dunno, but I'll explore this idea and try again.

I realized I should stick to what I know instead of trying to be a smart ass, I'm a one trick pony after all. Heheheh. That's how I ended up with my dishes, sweet & sour sausages and the Indonesian sate sosis.

As for the Hello Kitty craziness...
I just wanted to have fun and create something mad for the event, instead of just bringing dishes.
I thought of making a whole table of food bloggers, most of them would resemble the bloggers who would attend the event, but OK, that's too damn ambitious, there's no way I could do that.

Then I thought of creating a mini me (a food blogger) out of cocktail sausages, but ok that's so damn narcissistic, I feel disgusted even as I am typing this up. Ugh.

So what's cute, somewhat relevant to Hong Kong, and relevant to the event?
Uh huh! Hello Kitty food blogger, my friend.
Hello Kitty Food Blogger - My Blog is Cuter Than Yours - Cocktail Sausage Food Sculpture
I used these light colored small sausages. A tanned Hello Kitty would be cute too, but I tried to be as close as its original colors.

I bought a variety of stuff to realize my Kitty ambition.
Hello Kitty Food Blogger - My Blog is Cuter Than Yours - Cocktail Sausage Food Sculpture
Seaweed and seaweed strands for the eyes and whiskers, cheese for the nose, maybe add some food coloring for the red bow. Crackers and cracker sticks in case I need to build a table...

Hello Kitty Food Blogger - My Blog is Cuter Than Yours - Cocktail Sausage Food Sculpture
I had to make a lot of plan Bs...it's hard to stick anything to the sausages as they're oily! Everything slides down and fall off when touched, especially after the oil's dried out. I ended up using rice for the nose, stuck it to the face using a toothpick. I used honey as glue, small sharp scissors and tweezers helped a lot!

Hello Kitty Food Blogger - My Blog is Cuter Than Yours - Cocktail Sausage Food Sculpture
What's a food blogger without food? This was pretty straight forward. Rice, seaweed strands, toothpicks and sliced cocktail sausages to resemble luncheon meat. Very Hong Kong la!

The camera's made of sausage wrapped with seaweed. This failed in the end, after a while, the seaweed peeled off..and I had a bit of a disaster with the bow too...the cheese melted. I was so upset. I tried to keep everything savoury, as if we're going to end up eating the whole thing (warning, food poisoning?), but in the end I gave up and made the bow and camera out of pink Sugus candies.
Hello Kitty Food Blogger - My Blog is Cuter Than Yours - Cocktail Sausage Food Sculpture
The slogan "my blog is cuter than yours" was made out of alphabet pasta and changed the banner to resemble a talk icon.

Whew! It's been so long since I've been so mad.
It felt so good, I look forward to more madness.

More pics are posted on my Facebook Page.

Monday, June 27, 2011

My Entries for The Cock Up - Hong Kong's First Cocktail Sausage Event

How could you say no to an event aptly titled "The Cock Up"?
Juicy wieners, food, drinks, competition, creativity...it's all cock full of fun!

Here are my entries for the event...
My Blog Is Cuter Than Yours - Hello Kitty Food Bloggers Sculpture Made of Sausages
My Blog is Cuter Than Yours - Hello Kitty Food Bloggers.
My entry for the Best Sculpture category.
Made of cocktail sausages, seaweed, sugus candies, rice, cream crackers, alphabet pasta, stick together with honey and lotsa tooth picks.

Sweet and Sour Pork (pork cocktail sausages) - Just Like How Mama Used to Make
Sweet and Sour Pork 
My entry for Just Like How Mom Used to Make category.
Deep fried honey cocktail sausages in light batter, SC's mom sweet and sour sauce recipe, made of sauteed onion, red and yellow peppers, pineapple with vinegar, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, and sugar.

Indonesian "Sate Babi/Pork Sate" made of Cocktail Sausages - Fusion Fart
Indonesian Sate Babi (Pork Sate)
My entry for the Artsy Fartsy Fusion Mess category.
Honey cocktail sausages marinated in nutmeg, cumin, ground corriander seeds, light soy sauce & sweet soy sauce, oven grilled. Served over ready made Indonesian sate sauce garnished with lime, thinly sliced shallot, bird's eye chillies and kecap manis.

There were tons of wonderful entries, check out how all cocked up we all were, pictures are posted on my Facebook Page.

Gadzillion of thanks to Tom & Jen for hosting, can't wait for our next saucy event!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Miso Grilled Pork

Miso Grilled Pork
Another crazy easy "recipe" for you.

Marinate pork meat (I am using pork neck, it has even fat marbling, stays tender and juicy no matter how you cook it) with miso paste, mirin, and a bit of sugar, preferably overnight in the fridge. Grill in 250C oven until golden brown with charred bits before serving. Tastes amazing with rice or noodle soup.

Happy Friday, y'all!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Stir Fried Prawns and Kimchi

IMG_3605
So easy and super tasty. Nuff said.

Simply pan fry prawns and kimchi in a bit of hot oil until the prawns are just done (do not overcook). You can stop here, it's yummy enough, trust me. If you wanna go further, you can add gochuchang for a bit of sweetness, then finish the dish with a bit of sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds (I didn't bother. Heheheh).